Texas hold &#39;Em High/Lo 8 or better and razz low ball

ABSTRACT

The new game of Texas Hold &#39;Em is called Texas Hold &#39;Em Hi/Lo 8 or Better and Texas Hold &#39;Em Razz or Low Ball.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention related to the field of interactive, electronicgaming systems. More particularly, the present invention related to allgaming systems from electronic, to live version casino, to play gamessimilar to the game of Omaha Hi/Low 8 or Better and also Seven Card StudHi/Low 8 or Better. This invention for Texas Hold 'Em is to make it'sown version of Hi/Low 8 or Better.

In the standard game of Texas Hold 'Em the highest hand wins the game.The rank of the hands are as follows:

-   1. Royal Flush-   2. Straight Flush-   3. 4 of a Kind-   4. Full House-   5. Straight-   6. 3 of a Kind-   7. 2 Pairs-   8. 1 Pair-   9. High Card

DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART

U.S. Pat. No. 5,294,128 ('128 Patent), which issued to Marquez,discloses a multiple hand variation of the card game of Hi-Lo pokerinvolving individual players being dealt six cards, the six cards beingdivided into a one-card high ranking hand, a two-card high ranking hand,and a three-card low ranking hand is disclosed. The cards in the threehands are ranked according to a hierarchy which ranks individual cardsaccording to values placed upon each card and in addition, rankscombinations of cards according to an established criteria. The playersmust arrange the cards in the three hands so as to maximize theiroverall chances of having one or more winning hands when compared to abank player's three hands. Each player's one-card, two-card andthree-card hands are compared against the bank player's respectiveone-card, two-card and three-card hands to determine if the player winsthe hand in which case the bank player pays the player, or if the playerloses the hand, in which case the player forfeits its wager for thehand, or there is a tie.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,810,354 ('354 Patent), which issued to Banyai, disclosesa casino poker game in which each player plays his or her poker handagainst the poker hand or hands of a banker who is preferably also thedealer. The game comprises a modified version of draw poker wherein theplayers may discard cards and improve their hands with a draw, andwherein each player elects among high, low and high-low poker rankingsto his or her hand for application against the dealer's high and/or lowhands. Progressive jackpot and bad beat bonus payments are available forboth high and low player hands.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,135,453 ('453 Patent), which issued to Srichayaporn,discloses a method of playing a high/low poker game includes each seatedplayer placing a first high hand wager in a first high hand bettinglocation and a first low hand wager in a first low hand bettinglocation; each seated player optionally placing one or more additionalwagers in one or more additional high hand or low hand bettinglocations; each seated player designating at least two cards or tilesselected from an initial hand as a high hand and designating at leasttwo cards or tiles from an initial hand as a low hand; determiningwinners and paying wagers for the first high hand and first low handbetting locations by comparing the relative rank of the seated players'high hands and low hands, respectively; and, if a seated player placed awager in one or more additional high hand or low hand betting locations,then determining winners and paying wagers for each additional high handbetting location and each additional low hand betting location. Abanking version of a high/low poker game additionally includes the stepof a dealer setting out a dealer high hand and a dealer low hand towhich the player's hands will be compared. In addition, an apparatus forplaying a high/low poker game includes a playing area with at least twoplayer stations designated to provide a high hand placement location; alow hand placement location; two or more high hand betting locations;and two or more low hand betting locations.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,371,485 ('485 Patent), which issued to Daines, disclosesa method of playing a five-card, high-low card game includes dealing aplayer a five card hand face up and determining if the hand is high orlow by the number of low (Ace to 6) card compared with the number ofhigh (8 to King) cards in the hand. Sevens are neutral and are replacedin the hand. The player may place a bet on high or low, prior to beingdealt the hand.

United States Patent Application Publication No. US 2004/0183256, whichwas authored by Ko, teaches a method which is set forth for playing aPoker game where each player makes a wager and a dealer is dealt N cardsand each player is dealt N-1 cards, where N is greater than or equal to4. Each player has the option to discard and receive replacements forhis best hand of N-1 cards. The dealer reveals his hand and assemblesthe highest ranking hand of N-1 cards which are compared to the player'shand to determine the outcome of first wager. If the dealer's hand doesnot have at least a predetermined ranking, each player is paid basedupon their first wager at odds based upon the player's hand. In oneembodiment, where the dealer does not qualify, the player is paiddouble. The player may make an optional dealer hand wager that thedealer hand will be of a rank below a predetermined ranking. The playermay also make a player hand side wager that the player's hand will beone of a predetermined schedule of winning hands.

United States Patent Application Publication No. US 2005/0096130, whichwas authored by Mullins, teaches a gaming method or system which has atleast two different games and a participating progressive jackpot. Theprogressive jackpot is the same for some or all games within the gamingsystem. For example, if a given gaming system has two different games, aplayer can win the progressive jackpot while playing either of the twogames. More than two games and more than one progressive jackpot can beutilized within the gaming system described herein. Almost any game canbe used in the gaming method and system. It is generally preferred thatthe games be games of skill and/or chance such as playing card games,high/low card games, twenty-one card games, poker card games, dicegames, slot machine casino style games, lottery, pull tab, keno, bingotype games or any other suitable game (i.e. having table fixed jackpotsand/or progressive jackpots). All games included within the gamingsystem utilize at least one progressive jackpot as a prize but may alsoprovide smaller win amounts like table jackpots or a one game jackpot ora one-machine jackpot. The games may be played in whole or in partelectronically.

United States Patent Application Publication No. 2006/0087082, which wasauthored by Ko, teaches a method which is set forth for playing a Pokergame where each player makes a wager and a dealer is dealt N cards andeach player is dealt N-1 cards, where N is greater than or equal to 4.The wager placed may be split into a first wager and a second wager.Each player has the option to discard and receive replacements for hisbest hand of N-1 cards. Replacement cards may be dealt as communitycards, with a number of sets of cards being dealt, and the player havingthe choice of the best set of cards to use. The dealer reveals his handand assembles the highest ranking hand of N-1 cards which are comparedto the player's hand to determine the outcome of wagers placed accordingto a pay table associated with each wager. Where the wager has beensplit, the first wager is paid at even money or better, and the secondwager is paid at even money or less. If the dealer's hand does not haveat least a predetermined ranking, each player is paid based upon each oftheir wagers at odds based upon the player's hand. The player may makean optional dealer hand wager that the dealer hand will be of a rankbelow a predetermined ranking. The player may also make a player handside wager that the player's hand will be one of a predeterminedschedule of winning hands.

United States Patent Application Publication No. 2006/0119044, which wasauthored by Kekempanos et al. teach a method of playing community cardgames, in table games format and or electronic, video, slot machines forcasinos. According to an embodiment of the present invention, one ormore players place an initial wager and a dealer/electronic, video, andor slot machine deals at least one card(s) to the players and at leastone card(s) to the dealer. The players and dealer then inspect their atleast one card(s) and decide to keep them or draw at least one new cardto hopefully form a better at least one card(s). If a decision of a drawis made for an at least one new card, the amount of cards that aredrawn, you must have that equal amount(s) of card(s) discarded. Afterthe draw option is complete, at least two sets of community card(s) aredealt. Each set of community card(s) has at least one card. The sets ofcommunity card(s) will be named “A” SET, “B” SET, and “C” SET etc.Players have to bet on at least one of the set(s) of community card(s)of either A, B, or C etc. Each set of community card(s) will be used inconjunction with each of the players' and or dealer's at least one card,to form the best possible predetermined poker hand, for each. Theplayers' wagers are then resolved by evaluating the players' hands andthe dealer's hand in comparison of the best hand of a predeterminedfashion, and or the resolution of wagers played against a predeterminedpay scale. Various modifications to the first embodiment of the presentinvention are set forth herein. This method of playing a poker stylegame, may be used in Texas Hold'Em, Omaha, and 7 Card Stud, 5 Card Stud,Omaha Eight or Better (High-Lo Split), Razz, or any poker game usingcommunity cards. The number of cards in each set may change and thenumber of sets for each game may change. The player may choose to betone set of cards (A) and choose a specific set (B) for the dealer tohave to use to complete the dealer hand. These features are new, noveland non-obvious, instead of the old way of only one flop, turn andriver, and also the new feature of replacing the hole cards.

As is generally known in the arts, there is no precise information onwhere or when Texas hold 'em Poker was first played. According tolegend, the earliest game played was in Robstown, Texas, in the early1900s and it first came to Dallas, Tex. in 1925. Texas hold 'em wasintroduced to Las Vegas by a group of Texan gamblers and card players,including Crandall Addington, Doyle Brunson, and Amarillo Slim. The gamewas later introduced to Europe by bookmakers Terry Rogers and Liam “TheGentleman” Flood.

Like most variants of poker, the objective of Texas hold 'em is to winpots, where a pot is the sum of the money bet by oneself and otherplayers in a hand. A pot is won either at the showdown by forming thebest five card poker hand out of the seven cards available, or bybetting to cause other players to fold and abandon their claim to thepot.

Hold 'em is normally played using small and big blind bets. Antes may beused in addition to blinds, particularly in later stages of tournamentplay. A dealer button is used to represent the player in the dealerposition; the dealer button rotates clockwise after each hand, changingthe position of the dealer and blinds. The small blind is posted by theplayer to the left of the dealer and is usually equal to half of the bigblind. The big blind, posted by the player to the left of the smallblind, is equal to the minimum bet. In tournament poker, the blind/antestructure periodically increases as the tournament progresses. (In somecases, the small blind is some other fraction of a small bet, e.g. $10is a common small blind when the big blind is $15. The double-blindstructure described above is relatively recent; until the 1980s, asingle-blind structure was most common.)

The three most common variations of hold 'em are limit hold 'em,no-limit hold 'em and pot-limit hold 'em. Limit hold 'em hashistorically been the most popular form of hold 'em found in casino liveaction games in the United States. In limit hold 'em, bets and raisesduring the first two rounds of betting (pre-flop and flop) must be equalto the big blind; this amount is called the small bet. In the next tworounds of betting (turn and river), bets and raises must be equal totwice the big blind; this amount is called the big bet. No-limit hold'em is the form most commonly found in televised tournament poker and isthe game played in the main event of the World Series of Poker. Inno-limit hold 'em, players may bet or raise any amount over the minimumraise up to all of chips the player has at the table (called an all-inbet). In pot-limit hold 'em, the maximum raise is the current size ofthe pot.

Play begins with each player being dealt two cards face down. Thesecards are the player's hole or pocket cards. These are the only cardseach player will receive individually, and they will only (possibly) berevealed at the showdown, making Texas hold 'em a closed poker game. Thehand begins with a “pre-flop” betting round, beginning with the playerto the left of the big blind (or the player to the left of the dealer,if no blinds are used) and continuing clockwise. After the pre-flopbetting round, assuming there remain at least two players taking part inthe hand, the dealer deals a flop, three face-up community cards. Theflop is followed by a second betting round. This and all subsequentbetting rounds begin with the player to the dealer's left and continueclockwise. After the flop betting round ends a single community card(called the turn or fourth street) is dealt, followed by a third bettinground. A final single community card (called the river or fifth street)is then dealt, followed by a fourth betting round and the showdown, ifnecessary.

If a player bets and all other players fold, then the remaining playeris awarded the pot and is not required to show his hole cards. If two ormore players remain after the final betting round, a showdown occurs. Onthe showdown, each player plays the best five-card hand he can make fromthe seven cards comprising his two hole cards and the board (the fivecommunity cards). A player may use both of his own two hole cards, onlyone, or none at all, to form his final five-card hand. If the fivecommunity cards form the player's best hand, then the player is said tobe playing the board and can only hope to split the pot, since the otherplayer can also use the same five cards to construct the same hand.

If the best hand is shared by more than one player, then the pot issplit equally among them, with any extra chips going to the firstplayers after the button in clockwise order. It is common for players tohave closely-valued, but not identically ranked hands. Nevertheless, onemust be careful in determining the best hand; if the hand involves fewerthan five cards, (such as two pair or three of a kind), then kickers areused to settle ties (see the second example below). Note that the card'snumerical rank is of sole importance; suit values are irrelevant inHold'em. The best possible hand given the five community cards isreferred to as the nuts. The lowest possible nuts is three Queens (on aboard such as 2 3 7 8 Q with no more than two cards of any one suit).

Also known as “seven eight” or “stud eight”, eight or better is the mostcommon form of high-low split stud. Played as seven-card stud, but thepot is split between the player with the highest hand and the playerwith the lowest hand (using the ace-to-five low values). An 8-high handor lower is required to win low. Betting takes place as if playingstandard high-hand stud; that is, low card pays the bring-in, if any, onthe first round, and subsequent rounds start the betting with thehighest showing poker hand. The showdown is cards speak, that is, thereis no declaration for high and low. Each player may choose a differentsubset of five cards to play for high and low. For example, a playerwith A-A-8-6-6-4-3 can play a high hand of A-A-6-6-8, and a low hand of8-6-4-3-A. A player with K-9-8-7-6-5-4 can play a 9-high straight forhis high hand, and 8-7-6-5-4 for low (which is the worst possiblequalifying low, but it does qualify). A player with K-9-8-7-7-6-5 canplay the 9-high straight for high, but cannot play any low hand, becausehe cannot make an 8-high or lower. If there is no qualifying low hand,high hand takes the entire pot.

Razz is seven-card stud played with ace-to-five low hand values. It isusually played with a bring-in, paid by the player with thehighest-ranking upcard on the initial deal (aces are always low cards inRazz, even for the purpose of assigning the bring-in). On the second andsubsequent rounds, the player with the lowest exposed hand starts thebetting. London lowball is seven-card stud played with ace-to-six lowhand values. It is usually played at pot limit or no limit, and isotherwise identical to Razz. A sample Razz deal (suits are omitted herebecause they are never of consequence in Razz; in London lowball, aflush cannot play as a low hand but otherwise they don't generallymatter either) follows:

Alice deals each player two downcards and then one upcard: Bob's upcardis a J, Carol is dealt a 3, David an A, and Alice a 4. Bob's J is thehigh card (David's A is low), so he pays a $1 bring-in. Carol, David,and Alice all call. Now Bob is dealt a 9, Carol another 3, David a 4,and Alice a 2. The best low hand showing is now David's 4-A, justbeating Alice's 4-2. David bets $1, Alice calls. Bob folds his J-9, andCarol calls (her pair of 3s is the worst hand showing, but there arestill many cards to come). Alice now deals Carol an A, David a K, andherself an 8. The low hand showing is now Alice's 8-4-2, so she bets $2.Carol raises $2, and David folds. Alice calls, ending the round. Carolis now dealt a 6, and Alice another 8. Now the lowest hand showing isCarol's 3-3-6-A, a pair of 3s being lower than Alice's pair of 8s. Shebets $2 and Alice calls. A final downcard is dealt, Carol again best $2,and Alice calls. Alice reveals that her downcards are 7-J-A, making herlowest five-card hand an 8-7-4-2-A. Carol reveals her downcards to be a4-6-7, making her lowest five-card hand a 7-6-4-3-A, which wins the pot.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION How the Game of Texas Hold 'Em is EssentiallyPlayed:

The first round of betting is that the players are to call the Big Blindbet to stay in the game. The player who turns to bet can call the BigBlind bet, raise the bet of the fold. When all the betting is done theplayer who posts the Big Blind has an option to raise or check the bet.

When the dealer/house collects all the players bets into the middle ofthe table then deals the game; bring one card down and place three cardsup in the middle of the poker table as a flop. After three cards are onthe poker table the dealer will ask the first player do you want to betor not?

The player will make his/her move in betting to make a bet or checkafter all players make their choice of betting the casino/house willcollect if any new bets and place it in the middle of table. Then thedealer will deal or other card out one down and one in the middle of thetable up as the card. Again the dealer will ask the player for bettingafter all bets are made if any bets are called or place; the dealerplace the chips in the middle of the table. Then the dealer deals thelast card. One card down and one card up as the River card. Then thedealer again will ask the player for betting action. After all bets aredown the dealer will collect the bet and place the bets in the middle ofthe table and the dealer/casino will ask to show me a winner the highesthand wins the game.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other features of my invention will become more evident from aconsideration of the following brief description of reference numeralsand patent drawings:

No. 1—poker table.

No. 2—casino chips

No. 3—Player Name

No. 4—Chip Rack

No. 5—Pit Amount and Bets

No. 6—Bank Roll

No. 7—Player Cards

No. 8—Community Cards

No. 9—Pot

No. 10—Player Bet

No. 11—For online poker game in play with numbers

No. 12—Action of Game

No. 13—Bet

No. 14—Payouts

No. 15—Dealer Button

FIG. 1 is a table of six players at a poker table, either playingelectronically or person to person in a real casino set up. In FIG. 1player makes betting action to get the game started. Four players are inthe game.

FIG. 2 shows three cards as the flop on the game. Three players stay inthe game, one folds.

FIG. 3 shows on the third round of betting the turn card is dealt out,all three players stay in the round.

FIG. 4 shows The River card being dealt out. The players makes a bet,one raises, the other two call.

FIG. 5 describes that after all bets are in, the high hand is awardedand the low hand is awarded.

FIG. 6 depicts a flow chart of one poker game from start to finish. Thegame begins with The Blinds and shows the step by step procedures of theflow chart. It covers all in player activity. Also, if there is no callon the player bet the game is over. When the game completes, the gamewill start over again.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT(S)

More specifically, the game is played as follows:

6 players (3) on Game #394630 (11) each receive 2 (7) cards on TexasHold 'Em High/Low 8 or Better. The player (3) choice is to stay in (12)or fold (12) their hand of poker.

Bob (3) calls (12) $10.00 (13), Portano (3) called (12) $10.00 (13).Empty Head folds (12) 3XXX (3) folds (12) and rolls (3) bet (3) as $5.00(12)(13) and The Who (3) checks (12).

The Flop (12) is A♡5♦J♦ (8) Rolls (3) Calls (12) $10.00 (13) Portano (3)calls (12) $10.00 (13) Roll (3) Fold (13).

The turn is 7♡. The Who bets $20.00. Bob calls $20.00, Portano calls$20.00.

The River K♡.

The Who bets $20.00. Bob calls $20.00. Portano raises to $40.00. The Whocalls and Bob calls.

Payouts—

The Who can win low with A♡3 4♦, 5♦, 7♡. The Who wins $125.00.

Portano wins High with 3 of a Kind K's.

Portano wins $125.00.

Bob lost no high or no low hand.

-   Player Cards-   C.P.U.-   Cont the C.P.U.-   Flow Charts of Start CPU=Player=CPU finish.

1. A pair of Texas Hold 'Em, games, game one comprising Texas Hold Em Hi/Lo 8 or Better and game two comprises Texas Hold 'Em Razz or Low Ball.
 2. The casino/house or dealer can set up on the rules of the games of Texas Hold 'Em Hi/Lo 8 or Better and Texas Hold 'Em Razz or Low Ball.
 3. In both games Texas Hold 'Em Hi/Lo 8 or Better and Texas Hold 'Em Razz or Low Ball is covered by modifications on the deck of cards set up; adding new card(s) value, new suit(s) or adding joker(s) or wild card(s). Also taking away card(s) or suits.
 4. The games defined in claim 3 where the games are playable at any place where poker is played, from casinos to children's game for real money or chips. 